Laeila Adjovi & Loïc Hoquet Win the Léopold Sédar Senghor Grand Prize at the 2018 Dakar Biennale

The photographic series « Malaïka Dotou Sankofa » was created by Laeila Adjovi and Loïc Hoquet in the Old Courthouse in Dakar. The title mixes different African languages to name a metaphorical and imaginary creature incarnated by the dancer Marie-Agnès Gomis. “Malaïka” in Swahili signifies angel; “Dotou” in Fon signifies “to remain determined;” “Sankofa” is an Adrinka symbol, the ideographic writing of the Akan in Ghana, that represents a bird whose head is turned backwards, depositing an egg on its back, and that symbolizes the importance of learning from the past. Laeila Adjovi and Loïc Hoquet question the mediatic contemporary myth of an “emerging Africa,” and remind us that the destiny of the Continent is in the hands of those who stand up following their own rules, regardless of the obstacles.

Presented at the last Dakar Art Biennale in May 2018, “Malaïka Dotou Sankofa” won the Léopold Sédar Senghor Grand Prize.